Are Racial Attitudes Part of the Problem?
We learned a valuable lesson this week, President Obama must
run a flawless, almost perfect campaign, or the progressive and liberal
punditry will throw his ass under the bus quicker than Fox News can clear up
another Romney policy misstatement. After what was a pretty boring and
non-eventful debate last week, the right-wing pundits quickly proclaimed
victory for Romney and touted it as the game-changer the challenger needed. “We
have a new race,” they exclaimed.
And what did our beloved progressive punditry do? They threw
the first African-American President of the United States under the bus,
because he had a somewhat, and only somewhat, flat performance in a debate. But
was President Obama so beat on Dodd-Frank, or the tax-cut question, or
Medicare, or any issue that it could change the race?. Did Romney really “win”
on any real issue, other than being more energetic? No.
Think of what you remember about the debate. Do you remember
Romney getting the upper hand on any policy, or just frustrated that President
Obama wasn’t more forceful in refuting his lies? Only Al Sharpton, Christopher
Hayes and Lawrence O’Donnell really went after Romney on the lies and defended
the President. Ed Shultz, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews just threw him under
the bus like an overpaid athlete that had one bad game after a string of
victories.
The debate was no slam dunk for Romney, until the left-wing
pundits abandoned any pretense that they actually cared about issues and
policy, and just followed the right by calling Romney the winner on style
points alone. A poll conducted immediately after the debate by CBS, which
included the option of “tie,” proves this point. In that poll only 46% said
that Romney won the debate, with 22% for Obama, and 32% calling it a tie. It
was only after the media began it’s spin that opinion shifted toward some huge
night for Romney.
Why did the progressive talking heads so easily capitulate
to the right-wing? It’s hard to make any sense of, but it just doesn’t feel
right. Every issue and policy that they have supported over the years,
President Obama still champions. Could it be that they see President Obama as
the “help,” as U of mass. Professor John H. Bracey explains in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_-clq87VfU.
Do they see Obama as the “help?” Is that what caused the
level of disappointment after the debate? After standing up for this black man
this is how he repays them. Is that what they were thinking? Because nothing
else explains their behavior. Is that why they so quickly, and so easily joined
the racist Fox News in portraying the debate as some massive win for Romney?
Please tell me if I’m wrong. Please tell me you weren’t a
bit, or a lot surprised by their sudden and strong anger at President Obama.
Why didn’t they, as I did the day after, point out that nothing changed with
regard to the issues that led to President Obama’s lead in the polls? Why did
they abandon President Obama so quickly that even Saturday Night Live mocked
them?
If a less than stellar debate performance, one month out
from the election is all it takes for Chris Matthews, an old, white, male,
Irish Catholic from Boston to all of a sudden diminish and berate our first
black President, maybe it’s time to reexamine which so-called progressives are
speaking out.
For a much better explanation of why President Obama did not
go for the jugular in the debate, I think my story from last Thursday does the
job: http://politicsandabeer.blogspot.com/2012/10/romney-won-debate-but-on-what-issues.html
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